Sea Questions with Mrs. Z’s Kids!

Meg Swecker is at it again! She’s currently diving in Mexico and at the same time, communicating with students in schools back in the United States using VoiceThead. On this trip, Mrs. Zamorski’s students participated! Here’s the VoiceThread they made:

In Roanoke County, students in Kindergarten are learning Spanish from students in Mexico thanks to Meg. They also used Voicethread, and Meg’s awesome new Ocean Studies Wiki for this project. I love that she was able to get students in Mexico to help record Spanish Words. Check it out here.

Trek 2 India with Dr. Seibert!

Our superintendent, Dr. Alan Seibert, is getting ready to leave for India the day after Thanksgiving. Pam Elgin and I have set up this wiki for the Salem teachers to use before, during, and after his trip so that students can learn more about India.
On the wiki you will find activities for classes to use including weather, maps, videos, pictures, and more. It will also grow as Dr. Seibert adds pictures and videos from his trip. We’d love for Salem teachers to add to the wiki as well. Click here for directions on how to participate.
If you are interested in learning more about his trip, you can read the Roanoke Times article or watch the news story from WDBJ 7 Roanoke.

Dancing…

I was reminded of this awesome video today while preparing for an upcoming workshop…and I really like this version because the title is not as conspicuous (it does have one word not appropriate for school).

And then I found the translation to the words from the song that’s playing during the video…wow!  This is what Matt says about the lyrics:

The lyrics to “Praan” were taken from a poem by a Nobel Prize winning Indian author named Rabindranath Tagore. While the poem was written in Bengali (or Bangla), I chose it based on its English translation, which I later learned to be more of an interpretation that captures the spirit of the original without matching it word-for-word.

The English version of the poem is called “Stream of Life.” Here it is:
_____

The same stream of life
that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world
and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life
that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life
that is rocked in the ocean-cradle
of birth and of death,
in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious
by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages
dancing in my blood this moment.

Taubman Museum of Art

Photograph by Tim HursleyA group of ITRTs and Art teachers recently had the opportunity to visit the brand new Taubman Museum of Art in downtown Roanoke for a workshop lead by Scott Crawford, the Deputy Director of Education at the Museum, and some of his staff. Throughout the day, we had the opportunity to learn about ways the Art Museum is using technology. If you haven’t already checked out the museum’s website, I highly recommend it.

We had the opportunity to play around with a brand new tool for the Museum called WAIT. This tool allows teachers and students to

“…interact with various art works from the Taubman Museum of Art’s permanent collection at six different levels. Through this program, you’ll be able to share your thoughts about the art work’s description, emotional tone, symbolism, composition, and it’s relationship to other content areas.”

During our workshop, we worked with a 1945 piece called Pax Pacific, and learned how knowing its historical context helped us interpret its meaning. We also worked on some other pieces using the WAIT interactive tool.

While we didn’t have the opportunity to visit any exhibits because last minute construction was still going on (the museum opens officially this weekend), we did get to learn about some of the exhibits. As a technology person, the one that excites me the most is the Revo/Over exhibit, featuring an “interactive, digital art installation that uses visual and aural information to create an interaction between viewers and the work.” Pretty much the art work will respond to the viewer’s movements and sounds and location in the exhibit, thanks to technology. The piece had many artists…people collaborated from various departments at Virginia Tech and across the globe. I can’t wait to see this exhibit based on the videos and pictures we were shown of its creation.

Finally, we had a chance to preview the video conferencing capabilities of the museum which allow for virtual field trips. This service gives teachers and students opportunities to work with art at the museum, and the museum’s educational staff, without ever leaving the classroom.

During our visit, we did have the opportunity to tour the first floor of the museum and see the amazing architecture from the inside. The views of the city, Mill Mountain Star, and the surrounding mountains were beautiful, especially at this time of year. The Roanoke Times has published an extensive webpage on the museum, complete with video and interactive information, if you would like to learn more.


Photograph by Tim Hursley

http://www.taubmanmuseum.org/TM_photos.html